Something On United

I have not written anything on Manchester United since the review of the 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur. Since that win, we have won one more match and more importantly we have won an away match which was so hard to achieve last season. That is the positive with another being the clean sheet. Two games, six points and zero goals conceded but going forward we have looked like boring ,boring Man. United. To be fair, if Memphis Depay had stuck his chance away, we would have got a second goal to slightly inflate our goals scored column but it was dull going forward. We hardly created any chances and hardly had any shots on goal despite bossing possession. Football is not won on possession statistics alone but in this case we did score one more than the opponent. Defensively, much maligned and criticised as our weak point, has stood strong and solid so far although some might argue that we have not been really tested yet. Let's see when we are really tested how strong our defence really is. Chris Smalling and Matteo Darmian have both stood out in defence. Daley Blind and Luke Shaw have not done too bad and Morgan Schneiderlin has contributed in front of the defence.

Post-Villa, we had our return to Champions League action where we conceded our first goal of the season. In this match, we have looked a little shaky at the back but Smalling has continued his good form and strong performances. He seems to be stepping up to the plate to be United's first choice centre back. All he needs to do is avoid getting injured. His injury record is his Achilles heel, pun unintended. We looked much better going forward against Club Brugge.

It was like the goal we conceded woke us up to attack more and we did. It is not quite free-flowing yet but it was much better than seen in the first two matches of the season. Wayne Rooney has been poor up front. He hasn't looked quite as sharp up front on his own all pre-season and has continued that form into the season. To be fair to him, he has lacked support and the link up play with Memphis and Adnan Januzaj playing off him has not been good. The understanding has been lacking but he has also got his touches wrong most notably against Aston Villa.

Michael Carrick is another that has looked a bit off the pace. He hasn't quite been as influential as you expect him to be but if you study him closely over the seasons, you would notice that he always starts the season slowly and gets stronger and better as the season goes on. Nothing to worry about that.

In the last 2 games, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Ander Herrera, Javier Hernandez and Marouane Fellaini, when his suspension is over, have staked a claim to start.

It's nice to see Hernandez back playing for us and perhaps having him play up front with Rooney behind him could be the answer to our disjointed attack. It would do both players a world of good too in terms of goals and confidence.

I feel when we play teams that come to Old Trafford and put men behind the ball, it would be fine to sacrifice Schneiderlin and play Carrick or Schweinsteiger at the base of the midfield and introduce a player like Herrera who can get forward and support the attack. The manager has done well to shift Memphis to the left and he has looked better playing there. Adnan Januzaj has started the last 2 matches and he has done decently. He has skills. All he needs is to bulk up and to play more games to build his match fitness and confidence. The manager has lots of options available to him now. It's a matter of finding the right ones to fit the system as well as rotating the squad to keep everyone fresh. We can't play with the same team every 3 days.

We have missed out on supposed transfer targets Sergio Ramos, supposedly Nicolas Otamendi and Pedro too. Sergio Ramos extended his contract, Otamendi joined Manchester City and Pedro joined Chelsea. Were these three really transfer targets? Sources say they were but you can be never too sure. However, I would say that for good or bad, I am contented with the squad that we have. We could do with another central defender perhaps but its not a catastrophe if we don't get one. The same goes to a winger or a striker many fans have asked fo. The reaction I read on Twitter from fans on the failure to make more signings have been ridiculous. We have made some significant signings already and the manager has a lot of options available to him. Have faith and patience! We can't keep going on buying players to try and win us titles. It is only a matter of finding the right combination of players to click and the goals will arrive. There's lots of attacking potential throughout the team and goals can come from everywhere. The most important one that we need to sort out is the future of David De Gea. I would love for him to stay but it looks inevitable that he will leave. It is only a matter of time. If he does stay on this season, I do hope he gets back into the team and performs to his best as he did last season. He is still young and can still develop further. The progress of his career shouldn't be stunted if he does stay on at United. I just hope this matter is resolved conclusively soon.